A Brand New Day
by jackandjill2
Summary: Takes place two years after Billy's final video blog. Dr. Horrible can't stand this world any longer... but, when he finds a way to travel to a different world, will it be any better? Rating subject to change, but it's looking good so far.
1. Chapter 1

So... today (March 14th, 2011) I had a really, really cruddy day at school and at home... so, I thought I'd cheer myself up by beginning a new story!

This story was inspired by Neil Patrick Harris and his characterizations of Blowhole and Horrible. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog belongs to Joss Whedon and his peeps, and the Penguins of Madagascar is owned by Dreamworks and Nickelodeon.

Now... onto the action! Let the exposition begin!

_

* * *

Is it possible to have everything you ever wanted and nothing at all – all at the same time?_

_Was it a gain or a loss to have your greatest dream realized at the cost of your greatest love?_

_But what if said dream really isn't all it's cracked up to be? Is it still worth it?_

These were the questions that had lately plagued the great mind of the not-so-good Dr. William 'Billy' Heilman – much better known as the infamous Dr. Horrible. Even now, as he sat alone in his lab, he knew he should be working on that mind-switching beam for his latest mission for the ELE – the Evil League of Evil – but he really didn't have much energy for such matters today. Something was amiss in his brilliant mind, and it took all his willpower to simple not think about it.

Besides, why did he care about the beam anyway? Latest mission – ha! The beam _was _his mission. He wasn't even going to be using it… it was truly Professor Normal's mission to carry out. But – as usual – Dr. Horrible had gotten the thankless task of making whatever gadget was necessary for whoever in the ELE had gotten assigned the cool part – carrying out the evil deed. The others said it was this way so he could finish sharpening his wickedness-skills before he was considered 'qualified' for the big leagues... _screw _that! He was already in the 'big leagues' – he'd made in on the board, hadn't he? Even so, what truly irked him was that every time _his _machines were used for some big operation, the other villain using said machine claimed to the public that it was their own creation. Dr. Horrible was fully aware that he was working for villains, and that's just what villains do... but it was _his _invention, dammit!

Dr. Horrible was snapped out of his reverie when he heard a door open and close. His head snapped up.

"Moist." He greeted with a lazy nod. His damp sidekick waved with his free hand – he was holding a small paper bag full of groceries.

"Hey, doc." Moist said, setting the bag down on a table. "I got the celery you wanted, and some ramen noodles – hey, shouldn't you be working on that mind-ray for Prof Normal? I thought the last parts came in yesterday."

"They did." Dr. Horrible replied simply. "I'm just tired, that's all."

There was a long silence as Moist silently opened the doctor's mini-fridge and put the celery inside. Moist knew he'd been acting this way for quite a while now... ever since the incident at the city hall. Well, he'd had enough. Moist finally decided it was time to confront the doctor – sidekick or not, they were still friends.

"Look, dude..." Moist said, shutting the fridge door, "It's been two years since you got in the ELE, and you haven't done a single thing since that bank robbery we did for your initiation. You know, I was talking with Bait and Switch the other day, and they said that the Prof said that Bad Horse _himself _said that the only reason you're getting these lousy mini-missions is because you're not showing any initiative – _no enthusiasm_ is the way he put it. What I'm trying to say is… you've finally gotten what you've always wanted. You are in the ELE; you have the means for any evil deed your mind thinks up – what gives?"

"I don't know, Moist." Dr. Horrible said, rubbing his temple.

"It's still about _her,_ isn't it?"

"That's enough!" the doctor suddenly shouted. Moist flinched – he really wasn't the gutsiest guy in the world, and he _really _hated it when people yelled at him.

Still, Moist knew he had to help his friend, so he swallowed his trepidation and gave a last piece of advice.

"All I'm saying is... she's gone now. There's no bringing her back... maybe it's time to start being less of Billy and more of Dr. Horrible."

Then Moist left the room, blushing a bit underneath his perpetual beads of sweat.

Even though he was gone, he certainly got Dr. Horrible thinking again. Deep down, he knew Moist was right – if he ever wanted to become a great villain he had to get past this depression… but he knew he couldn't. He never would – after all, Penny had been the first girl he'd ever loved, the first woman to accept him as he was (admittedly, she never knew about Dr. Horrible, only Billy… but still.) What he really hated was the lingering question that everyone seemed to know the answer to except for him: who had really killed her – Captain Hammer or Dr. Horrible?

Once again, he weighed the circumstances: on one hand, the death ray had been Dr. Horrible's invention and he'd been fully aware that if the thing was overloaded it would explode – he'd been aware that Penny was somewhere close, but not aware she was actually in the room... he'd told Captain Hammer not to pull that trigger, doing so wouldn't hurt him in the least and would cause the overloaded ray to combust... still, Captain Hammer had obstinately pulled that trigger, and Penny had been hit by the flying shrapnel...

Dr. Horrible could feel something warm and wet dripping down his face. At first, he almost thought Moist had simply re-entered the room… then, he realized, it was his own tear. He wiped it away – not an easy feat, with his rubber evil-ness gloves – he was a super-villain, super-villains don't cry… he tried to think evil thoughts: what good had come of Penny's death?

Well, for one, he was in the Evil League of Evil. Bad Horse was under the impression – as was the rest of the world – that Dr. Horrible had actually planned to kill Penny, and that had counted as his murder – his act of true malevolence that he'd needed to gain entrance to the ELE.

Another thing… well, seriously, what chance had he really had with Penny, anyway? He was Dr. Horrible – she liked to volunteer at freaking homeless shelters! Even if she wanted to be with Billy, she'd have found out about Dr. Horrible soon enough and that would be the end of _that._ Yeah, she'd always been quite the goody-goody, but in actuality, her innocence and optimism had been what Billy _and _Dr. Horrible always loved about her. He couldn't help but believe that there would have been nothing stopping them from being together if she hadn't been such a goody-two-shoes… maybe, in some sort of alternate universe where she wasn't quite so nice, they'd have been together a long time ago – or at least still alive...

Wait a minute…

Alternate universe... now _there_ was an idea... but was it _possible?_

He smiled. Duh. When you have a PhD in horribleness, everything is possible.

* * *

I promise it'll get more interesting next chapter, I just wanted to update what's been going on with Dr. H since the end of the movie, and also fill in my readers if they haven't seen the Sing-Along Blog yet.

Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Well... I was right in thinking that pretty much no one would read this, since it's in the crossover section... oh well. I'm going to continue it anyway - I'm having fun writing it and I know I have at least one faithful reader (thanks, GrandOldPenguin!)

Speaking of which: just in case you ARE trying to read this and have no idea who Dr. Horrible is or what he has to do with a Sing-Along Blog...

http:/ www. youtube. com/watch?v=apEZpYnN_1g (thanks again, dude!)

* * *

After quickly slapping together Prof. Normal's mind-ray (if it didn't work... well, that wasn't his problem) Dr. Horrible immediately began work on (what he hoped would be) his final invention in this world - his trans-dimensional portal generator. Usually, he'd come up with a cool name for it, but right now there was no time to waste - for now, it was simply called the T-DPG.

Now, as for the plans and how he came up with them... even I, a bodiless, omniscient narrator, cannot begin to comprehend the brilliance of Dr. Horrible: what the heck he was doing as he produced equation after equation on his whiteboard; how he somehow pieced it all together to produce two rough drafts and, eventually, a final blueprint for the T-DPG; I'm not even sure what the generator was constructed out of in the course of two weeks, though I do know it involved five dozen pounds' worth of iron, seventy-two LED lights, four quarts of apple butter, and the internal components of Moist's computer (poor guy wasn't too happy about that) among other things.

At last, after two and a half weeks straight in his lab (minus the ham-sandwich breaks that lasted about five minutes) the T-DPG was complete. In a way, it resembled a giant hula-hoop, or one of those rings that aquatic animals at the zoo jump through, but with red lights blinking all around it, and three stairs leading up to the bottom of the ring for him to step through. Under the ring, a generator whirred and buzzed, eagerly anticipating the moment when Dr. Horrible would press ACTIVATE.

Which was actually pretty soon. But first, there was one thing left to do… Dr. Horrible knew that the thing had to be unusable after he was done with it - Moist (or any other random person in the world) might try and use it - in Moist's case, to find Dr. Horrible to bring him back, which couldn't happen. Wouldn't happen. So, Dr. Horrible quickly constructed a self-destructing timer, which he would set just after he fired up the generator. Easy.

Now then... the scary part.

The idea of leaving this world forever, to run away to a whole different universe with no idea where he was going, what would happen to him… the whole idea kind of scared Dr. Horrible (which was understandable - actually, it'd be kind of freaky if he wasn't scared) but he knew he had to do it. He was tired of this world - how he worked so hard and was never appreciated for his work, and when he was finally recognized for an evil deed that he didn't even commit himself and was reaping too many of its consequences... now, when he finally had a chance to escape (short of suicide) he was going to take it.

Dr. Horrible had already made his arrangements - he'd left a note for Moist explaining what he'd done, sent a letter to the ELE to open up his space in the League for someone with more 'initiative' to fill…

Simply so that he wouldn't get cold feet, Dr. Horrible pressed the ACTIVATE button with no hesitation whatsoever.

A few sparks emitted from the giant ring, until finally four blue bolts shot across from the ring and met in the center of the circle. Out of the centroid of the circle, powered by the bolts, a smaller ring of pure, blue-colored energy formed and grew larger and larger, until it was barely a quarter of the size of the metal ring, floating four feet above the stairs.

Dr. Horrible frowned. He'd thought the energy ring would be bigger than that... now, if wanted to get through it at all, he'd have to dive in head-first, as though into a pool. The idea disconcerted him a bit, but hey, it was worth a shot.

After setting the self-destruct timer for fifteen minutes and attaching it to the generator, he walked across the room to prepare himself for the jump. He shook out his limbs, loosening his muscles, and snapped on his goggles - just in case, you know, it was bright or something.

He noticed he was standing next to a curtained window... he quickly glanced behind the curtains to get one last look at the world he was leaving behind (flipping it the bird for added effect), he closed the curtain again, took a deep breath and bolted towards the generator and made a perfect dive through the energy circle. With a ZAP, the circle closed up behind him and...

... it was like falling through a rainbow. Colors, colors everywhere as he fell, faster and faster through the endless technicolor that surrounded him. Completely out of nowhere, a scream escaped his mouth as an intense pain shot across his entire body - he could hear his bones breaking, hear his flesh tearing apart but then quickly healing itself, but everything was setting all wrong - oh, God the _pain! _- his legs had melded into one; his forearms and hands were completely gone, leaving only stumps of his arms; something hard and pointy had grown on his back; he couldn't even breath out of his mouth, and his nose seemed to have relocated to the back of his head, since his hair had been ripped out of the way…

_SPLASH!_

He landed in a pool of water... thank God, the pain went away instantly, as soon as he broke through the surface. Dr. Horrible opened his eyes - the water was a clear blue around him, and the pool was smooth and shaped like a box - obviously man-made - but the strangest thing, one wall was made entirely out of glass and there were about a dozen people, mostly children, peering up at him, smiling and pointing.

At that very moment, he was suddenly aware he wasn't wearing any clothes. His lab coat, goggles, boots, gloves, even his street clothes were all gone, lost in the space between worlds... he could feel the water _all _over his body... cringing with embarrassment, he looked down… and nearly drowned himself by gasping in water.

Apparently it didn't matter he was completely naked... he was a _dolphin._

_A freaking dolphin! _Like - like _Flipper _or whatever! How the _hell _did that happen?

_Some great alternate reality this is turning out to be! _Dr. Horrible thought irately.

Still... it explained how he'd been in the water for about five whole minutes now and still felt completely fine.

He looked up. A person was looking down into the water - he couldn't make out what he or she looked like or what they were saying, the water distorted everything.

He tentatively swam up to the surface, trying out his tail. Oh God, he had a _freaking tail… _hey, it actually felt kind of good, the water rushing past his skin as he raced to the surface…

Oops. Too much speed - he wasn't aware of just how powerful his tail was - he realized this too late and flew about three feet in the air after he broke the surface.

"Whoa, Frankie! Calm down!" the person on the edge of the pool said, waving his hands.

Dr. Horrible needed a second to make the connection that he was being addressed to… _Frankie? _What kind of name for a dolphin was _Frankie?_

Well, he figured he'd have to just go with it... for now, anyway.

He managed to poke his head out over the surface. The person on the edge of the pool was a dark-haired man in khaki shorts, polo shirt with a nametag that read "Hi! I'm Paul!", high socks and huge boots, and lastly, a baseball cap that read "SACRAMENTO ZOO" in red letters.

Yet another realization hit him like one of Captain Hammer's gut punches:

He was in a zoo.

He, Dr. Horrible - scientist and villain extraordinaire, was living as a dolphin in a _freaking _zoo… oh, God, what had he gotten himself into?

Wait a second... he wasn't just living in a zoo - he was performing in a zoo. He noticed with a jolt that there was a crowd of some forty-fifty people watching him in a set of stands behind a fence, clapping and cheering him on.

"Good job, Frankie!" the zookeeper, Paul, said enthusiastically. He reached into a pail and pulled out three small silver fish.

_Oh, no - not fish! _Dr. Horrible thought in a panic. He'd been deathly allergic to fish his whole life…

Oh yeah. He wasn't anymore. Huh.. interesting.

He opened his mouth as Paul threw in the fish. Almost out of habit, Dr. Horrible caught the fish in his mouth and, thanks to his newly-acquired instincts (that sounded like an oxymoron...) swallowed them whole on contact with his tongue. It actually felt quite normal, like swallowing a piece of gum.

Paul turned back to the audience and shouted, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, Frankie with perform his final trick... the _Ring of Fire!"_

Dr. Horrible's stomach plummeted. The Ring of _What?_

To his horror, Paul picked up a blowtorch off the ground and, reaching out above the water to the metal hoop behind the distressed doctor and touched the hoop with a small blue flame. The hoop immediately flared up and was quickly engulfed in orange flames. The audience _ooh_ed and _ahh_ed, especially small children. Paul put down the blowtorch, turned to Dr. Horrible, and started clapping his hands obnoxiously.

"Come on, Frankie!" he said encouragingly. "Go, Frankie, go!"

"_My name is NOT Frankie!" _Dr. Horrible burst out. "I am the great and terrible Dr. Horrible, and if you so much as touch me, YOU will be the one hurtling into that torture machine!"

But Paul and the audience just laughed. One woman cried out, "How adorable!" and snapped a few pictures - they _seriously_ allowed flash photography here?

And another thing - _adorable? _He'd just issued a death threat! How was that _adorable?_

Oh… well, duh. They couldn't understand him - he was a dolphin. To them, all he'd just said was unintelligible clicks and laughing noises.

"Looks like Frankie's being a bit stubborn now." Paul said with a smile. "Come on, boys and girls - cheer him on! _Go, Frankie! Go, Frankie!"_

If Dr. Horrible had any eyebrows, he would have raised them in disbelief. Wow... how cheesy was this dork?

Paul turned his back to the crowd and pulled something out from under his shirt - _whoa. _The cheesiness gone, replaced by a venomous glare.

"All right, you little brat," he said in a low, menacing tone. "You'd better go through that hoop, or you know what happens…"

He revealed the thing that was hidden under his shirt - a long, metal rod with a little button and two tiny rods at one end. Hiding it from the audience, he pressed the button and a small bolt of green electricity sparked between the rods with a high-pitched hissing sound.

"_Jeez!" _Dr. Horrible exclaimed, flinching. What was this guy, _zookeeper-Satan? __**Why did this man have a Taser?**_ Moreover, why was he threatening a dolphin almost completely submerged in water with it - one zap and he, Dr. Horrible, could be pushing up daisies within _seconds!_

Dr. Horrible looked back at the flaming hoop. He had a choice - either the Ring of Fire... or possible death by electrocution.

Well... he'd jumped through that circle of energy only ten minutes ago…

How hard could it be?

* * *

I really love writing from Horrible's point of view. It's a fun combination of humorous, everyday-Joe and true brillliance... plus, I've ALWAYS wanted to use the phrase 'pushing up daisies' and I finally got the chance to do it!

Review! (if anyone is even reading... eh, who cares?) :)


	3. Chapter 3

Dr. Horrible came back into consciousness about two hours later and found himself lying on a sterile metal table. He could hear someone speaking, but didn't open his eyes to see who it was:

"... yes, he'll probably have some minor scarring, and I suppose we'll have to wait until he wakes up to see if his vision is impaired at all."

"I don't get it!" Dr. Horrible recognized this voice: Paul the zookeeper. "He's done that trick dozens - hundreds of times and never had a problem with it!"

"I don't know." the other man said. Oh - he was probably a veterinarian. "It happens to the best of them, you know. He probably just was having an off day."

Oh... he had _no idea._

What had Dr. Horrible done with that stupid hoop, he just couldn't remember... wait... yep, there it was: he'd overestimated the size of the fiery hoop and smacked his head into the left half of the ring. Then... nothing. Everything had turned to black... _must have knocked myself out, _he thought to himself. He just laid there for a while, trying to relax himself and clear out his head - after the day he'd had, it felt nice to be able to just lay here, under the warm fluorescent lights above. If he had any complaint at all (besides the dolphin-thing, of course) he was a little thirsty, some water would be nice.

"He's looking a bit dry." the vet muttered. "We should re-hydrate again."

Dr. Horrible let out a sigh in relief. Finally, someone who wasn't a complete idiot-

_Splash! _A blast of ice-cold water washed over his body. Dr. Horrible's eyes flew open, and he shrieked out of surprise. Water would be nice, _indeed._

"_Not what I had in mind, guys!" _he spat bitterly, his flippers twitching from the cold.

The two humans jumped at the sound of his dolphin voice, and then laughed. Why was it every time he spoke, it induced laughter?

Paul wondered aloud, "How long do you think he's been awake?"

"I'm not sure," the vet replied. "but now that he's conscious we should get him back in the water. You should give him a couple of days off from the performances - see if that collision with the hoop has hindered his sight at all."

His sight - Dr. Horrible suddenly noticed he couldn't see out of his right eye. Nothing - completely black! His first day in this new world and he _puts out an eye!_

Wait a second... oh, thank God. Of course he couldn't see - there was a wad of water-proof gauze covering it up. Phew.

Dr. Horrible calmed himself down once he knew he wasn't half-blind and allowed the men to lift him up and place him in a small, shallow pool on a cart and wheel him out of the building. He was tired, there'd been way too many sudden realizations today...

He just wanted to go home... but, the problem was, this was his home now. Until - if ever - he found a way to make a new portal generator, he was stuck here. The thought nearly brought him to tears… what he'd give to see Moist again, or his old lab, even the idea of Captain Hammer beating him up was more enjoyable than this... this prison.

At last, he and Paul reached the dolphin habitat and Dr. Horrible was dumped into the pool below. The water was nice and warm, but it comforted the distraught doctor - dolphin very little.

"Well, Frankie," Paul said, "see you tomorrow." He bent down and patted Dr. Horrible's head. He looked around, making sure no one was watching, and then bent closer and whispered. "I'm sorry about today, buddy... don't you know I'd never hurt you? That Taser's just for show, to make ya to get movin'... I gotta feed my kids somehow, and I don't get paid if you don't finish the show... ha, good thing you can't understand a word I'm saying, huh?"

Dr. Horrible's jaw dropped open. The dude wasn't going to electrocute him after all - all of this had been for _nothing?_

But, right now, he was too tired to get mad. He simply ducked out of Paul's touch and dove deep into the water. There was no one behind the glass window - the zoo had closed. He glided through the water slowly, without any purpose whatsoever. He'd never felt so alone in his life... and, worse, he felt just as hopeless as he had just over two weeks ago, which was exactly what he'd wanted to get away from...

What had he been thinking? The whole idea was so idiotic... even if he was human here, even if Penny was still alive in this world, what chance was there that they'd ever find each other? And now, come to think of it, how would he even know if he'd found her? He was a dolphin, for crying out loud - she could be anything: a butterfly, an ostrich, a homeless prostitute, a freaking _tree..._

He settled himself on the concrete floor. There was seriously nothing to do but wallow in his own depressing thoughts. Nothing to do but go up for air every seven minutes or so... hey, maybe he'd skip that once and see what happens...

He didn't attempt that, though. Too chicken... he just laid there, only moving for air trips, for about a half hour and brooding on the pathetic-ness of his situation, when he heard a splashing sound from above his head. He looked up, and was puzzled at what he saw - a large red claw was splashing in the water, as if it were trying to get his attention.

Well, he had nothing else to do - he arose from the floor, swam up to the surface, and poked his head up. Most curiously, a lobster of all things was sitting by the edge of the pool, like he was waiting for Dr. Horrible.

"Hey, boss." the lobster said in a strangely familiar tone, one that was both lazy and concerned all at once. "Heard you took a hit to the hoop today." he noticed the gauze on the doctor's face and winced a little. "Ouch - looks like it hurt."

"Do I know you?" Dr. Horrible said, confused.

The lobster, apparently, was confused as well. He narrowed his beady eyes and said, "You feelin' okay, doc?"

_Doc..._ Dr. Horrible gasped and felt his heart leap for joy. There was only one person that he'd ever allowed to call him 'doc'...!

"_Moist!" _he exclaimed, and actually kicked himself onto the ground to hug his now-crustaceous friend with his tiny flippers. "Dude, you have _no idea _how happy I am to see you right now!"

"What're you talking about?" the lobster said, still confused. "My name isn't Moist - what kind of name is that, anyway? _Moist?_" He scrambled out of the doctor's slippery grasp, taking care to not pinch him. "You must've hit your head harder than we thought."

Dr. Horrible quickly figured out that he wasn't really talking to Moist - this was a whole different universe after all, hence the lobster - but he was absolutely certain that this was the reincarnation of his best friend and sidekick: there was no mistaking the perpetually lazy tone, or his brown eyes, even if they were beady and sticking out of his head.

Dr. Horrible also saw that he now had a golden opportunity to learn more about this new world and his new life, thanks to whatever-the-new-Moist's-name-was and his suggestion that the doctor had hit his head too hard.

"Uh - yeah!" Dr. Horrible said overenthusiastically. "I can't remember a thing - mind filling me in on... well, me?"

"No prob, buddy." the lobster said. "I'm Mike, remember? I'm your number-one guy, we've been friends for years. When we're out on business, you call me Red One."

"Mike, Red One, got it." Dr. Horrible repeated, then frowned. "My name isn't seriously Frankie, is it?"

"Definitely not." Mike said with a smile. "Your real name is Charles Bruggeman, but you prefer to go by Charlie to your friends... unless, of course, you're out living your _other _identity."

"Say what?" Dr. Horrible said. "Other identity - what're you talking about?"

Mike just smiled, and said, "Follow me, I'll show you." He jumped into the pool, beside Dr. Horrible, and swam deeper into the water. Puzzled, Dr. Horrible followed him under the water.

Mike swam up to a section of the northernmost wall, where the words BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN were painted in big, black letters. With a knowing glance back at Dr. Horrible, Mike tapped with his claw the three unpainted holes in the three O's - first the one on the right, then the center, then the left. Dr. Horrible heard a distorted, high-pitched BEEP, and suddenly a square section of the concrete wall - about four feet in width and length - slid away to reveal a secret passageway. Mike swam though, and Dr. Horrible tentatively followed.

Once they were inside, the door closed and the water around them mostly drained away. As the water drained, Dr. Horrible could feel himself falling down again, and soon another door opened up, about ten feet below their original location.

Once they were inside the dark antechamber, Dr. Horrible was becoming impatient. "Mike, what's going on?" he demanded.

"It's hard to explain what you do as your alternate identity," Mike's voice echoed - must be a big room they were in. "so I thought it would be easier to show you."

A loud CLICK rang out, and lights illuminated their surroundings. Dr. Horrible couldn't believe what he saw...

* * *

Cliffhanger!

Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4! Woot!

* * *

It was exactly like his lab back home, except for a few details: the fact that his test tubes, beakers, and writing utensils all seemed about twice as large - easier to use with flippers, he quickly processed; the room wasn't as colorful - his giant chair was gone, as was his awesome sphere of swirling purple electricity, but that had been for looks anyway, and the walls were unpainted. Other than those small details, everything seemed unchanged - the whiteboard was still covered in equations, blueprints lay scattered about the tables, there was even the mini-fridge in the corner, though he doubted it held any celery.

"My God…" Dr. Horrible muttered, amazed at what he saw around him. "This is incredible…" he frowned. He was still in the water, looking up. "But how do I get to it, I can't just get up and walk out of the water."

"Please. We figured that out a long time ago." Mike reassured him. "There hasn't been enough time to create your own ride, so we borrowed this little wonder from a tubby policeman a few years back and made a few adjustments. Here, I'll get it for ya." He dog-paddled closer to the edge of the pool and pressed yet another button. Nothing happened for a few seconds… until Dr. Horrible felt something cold and hard brush upwards against his tail and a set of handlebars poked out of the water. Dr. Horrible shouted with surprise and grabbed the handles as best he could when something clamped onto his tail and began pushing him up out of the water.

He actually felt kind of awesome as he quickly rose up from the water, and whatever he was on rode right out of the water, onto a ramp that led to the dry ground. Once he was completely on land, he looked down - apparently the device was a sort of souped-up Segway, with a special brace that clamped onto his tail so he stood upright, almost man-like.

And that was pretty cool.

"I like it…!" he said quietly to himself.

"Just try not to fall off," Mike called. "It's heck trying to get you back on, lemme tell ya."

"Got it." Dr. Horrible replied. He pushed himself forward to do some exploring now that he could see what was actually on the tables. A few beakers were sitting above Bunsen burners on one table, their contents bubbling contentedly, the equation on the whiteboard seemed to be calculating up to… well, he'd figure that out later.

Then, he saw something even stranger - three cheap TVs were laying on a desk by the wall, along with some papers and maps covered in markings and notes. One of the TVs was a flickering picture of a children's zoo entrance, one with a green-and-black radar map with a blinking red dot in the center, and the final showing a single penguin in an outdoor zoo habitat - short and stocky, with a strangely flat head and his back to the camera. Curious, Dr. Horrible rode up to the desk to get a better look at all of this stuff.

"What's all this?" he asked, looking through the maps on the desk.

"Oh yeah - one of your enemies is supposed to be getting some new help in a few days." Mike said." "We've been trying to-"

"We?"

"You and I."

"And what's this about enemies?"

Mike snorted. "You're a villain. A bad guy. A ne'er-do-well." He gestured around the room. "Why else would you have this stuff."

Well… nothing new there. "Yeah, I got that, but who are my enemies?"

"Oh… you've got a few, but probably the biggest thorn in your tail is this guy here." Mike pointed to the third TV screen. Dr. Horrible looked - the penguin had turned around and was facing in the general direction of the hidden camera.

There was something familiar about him - that cocky, conceited glint in his eyes, that cocky little grin…

No way. It couldn't be… but it just had to, the resemblance was simply uncanny and there seemed to be no other explanation for why that was so…

Dr. Horrible had to control himself before he could burst out in laughter. He'd thought being a dolphin was bad - Captain Hammer's trans-dimensional self was a _penguin! _How lame was that?

Mike apparently didn't notice the doctor shaking with silent laughter and continued.

"His name is Skipper - currently Sergeant Skipper, but soon as the newbies arrive he gets and automatic upgrade to Captain." Mike said. "Also, we're having a bad enough time beating him alone, mainly 'cause it's just you and me, and I'm not much help - having some help on Skipper's side wouldn't be good for us at all."

"Help? Like sidekicks?"

"Sort of - didn't I say he was a sergeant? He'd part of the Penguin Armed Forces - the best agent not working in the Emperor's palace or in their military school. Also, since the penguins have the best organized military - outside of the humans, of course - conquering Skipper is the first step to conquering the penguins, then the humans, and then-"

"-the world." Dr. Horrible finished with a classic evil smile. He was impressed - this universe's version of himself was doing much better on his journey to world domination - not only did he have a solid step-by-step plan, he came up with that plan as a dolphin! There was still a long, long way to go, of course, but more minions and better equipment would take care of that. Those things would come in time - but now, though, one question still lingered.

"Mike?" Dr. Horrible said. "You still haven't told me my evil name yet."

"I know. I was saving it for dramatic effect." Mike said simply, then finally told the doctor his new name.

At first, Dr. Horrible was shocked and hated it - if one had an immature enough mind, it sounded like a sexual joke waiting to happen… he tried to look past that, to really consider the name since he was pretty much stuck with it now. He whispered the name to himself, and surprising, found it rolled off the tongue quite well. He realized that, just for the same reasons he'd chosen the name "Dr. Horrible" so many years ago, this new name brought a singular picture to the mind; it was also short and easy to remember, easy to _fear…_

Maybe it wasn't such a bad name after all…

He said it again, louder. Yes… it was a good name.

"_Dr. Blowhole…"

* * *

_

Okay, if you want a laugh, re-read about seven paragraphs up, then when Dr. Horrible mentions taking over the world, play this:

http:/ www. youtube. com/watch?v=X8u7px_GzWQ

Let's see if either of my two readers can catch that reference! (Thanks guys... hey, I just realized that my only two reviewers at this point are both guys... *cough*SINGLE!*cough*) Just kidding!

Review!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone! Yeah, I'm a day late, but it's been a little busy around here lately. Mainly play tryouts yesterday... hee hee, I get to call someone a floozy bimbo! THANK YOU, SCRIPT!

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Most of the next few days mainly consisted of Dr. Horrible - who had indeed decided to take the new moniker of Dr. Blowhole, like Mike had told him - learning about his new life, or lives, and adjusting to his new lifestyle... and schedule.

The Sacramento Zoo, where he lived, was open from 8 AM to 8 PM on weekdays, 9 AM to 5 PM on weekends, and he had to do those stupid performances five times a day - nine-thirty, eleven, two, three-thirty, and six-forty-five respectively. He quickly learned the tricks and soon was able to not only perform them without a hitch but was able to tune out the audience, trainer (always Paul in the evenings, some girl named Sheila in the mornings), and event the tricks themselves to reduce the embarrassment. He'd always hated crowds, and the tricks were humiliatingly cheesy and, at times, degrading... he preferred to think about his experiments or other projects during that time. Except for the Ring of Fire - he was always sure to focus during the Ring of Fire, so that he wouldn't have a repeat of his first encounter with the damn thing.

Speaking of that... the gauze was finally taken off his face about a week and a half after the accident, and Dr. Blowhole was not happy at all with the results. He had a pink scar across the eye... okay, that was actually pretty cool, but the price of looking awesome was a pretty steep cost. He soon discovered that his vision had gained a tendency to flash in and out every hour or two. One second, he'd be seeing perfectly fine, then out of nowhere it would either get so blurry that he'd have to shut his right eye to make out anything, or else that eye would go completely black. It was more than an inconvenience at times, so he trained himself to shut his right eye before executing a trick during the shows. He feared he'd lose focus as he did a jump and hit his head again, but he feared even more that another hit would make him lose the vision in that eye completely.

Still, he knew that it was inevitable he'd get hit in the head somehow - if not during the performances, probably when he got to meet his new nemesis. If this 'Skipper' was anything like Captain Hammer, Dr. Blowhole knew that a sucker punch to the face was in the cards for him at some point.

So, to solve that problem before it happened, Dr. Blowhole began drawing up plans for a new invention: taking what he remembered from his old set of goggles, he drew up a blueprint for a robotic eye-patch that would wrap around his head securely and was able to tap into his brainwaves and allow him to see, and then included a full set of instructions and list of materials needed… mainly because the allowing-vision part included pulling out his eye, severing the nerves, and then melding the wires into his own brain. There was no way he could do that; Mike or someone would have to do it.

But he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, there were more important things at hand.

Primarily... the shipment of Skipper's new sidekicks - er, teammates. Dr. Blowhole and Mike were delayed quite a bit by Dr. Blowhole's 'ignorance' of the world (he stuck by the amnesia story, since it also sort of explained how his personality might have changed from the 'original' Blowhole… yeah, even HE was confused by that sentence.) He was beyond relieved when he discovered technology in this world was similar to the stuff he was used to back in his original dimension. Even the computer they used was quite up-to-date, since they were able to break into the zoo's offices - Blowhole on his Segway, of course - but still it was difficult to stop the shipment. Dr. Blowhole managed to hack into the system of the airport where the shipment was and was about to cancel the order when he stumbled upon an extra-powerful firewall that found their location. Dr. Blowhole barely had time, but he was able to send the intruder signal three blocks down the street, to a computer system inside a grocery store. He felt a little guilty when the manager was arrested, but felt better when they guy got out two days later and the whole thing was shrugged off as an odd malfunction.

Still, even after all that whole fiasco, the shipment for Skipper's new team was still sent out the very evening the manager was released from jail. It had quite a ways to go - all the way from Sydney, Australia to New York City - so Mike and Dr. Blowhole, tired from a long day, figured they'd take a crack at the plane's schedule in the morning since it would be a Sunday and the zoo would be closed.

But just before Mike left for his own habitat that night, Dr. Blowhole had to do something - something he should have done days ago.

"Hey, Mike?" He called as Mike was about to leave the secret lair for his own habitat.

"Yeah, Doc?" Mike said, turning back.

"I've got another question."

Mike sighed. "I probably already told you - your birthday's September 8th, you live in Sacramento, _no, _you have no family history of heart disease or certain types of cancer-"

"I know, I know." Blowhole interrupted. "This is different."

"Then what?"

"Do I - you know.. have a girlfriend? Someone kind, and funny, and caring-"

"Oh... well, no. Not really."

"Not even a girl who's a friend?"

"Nuh-uh."

Blowhole gritted his teeth, and braced himself. "What about Skipper?"

"What about him?"

"_Does Skipper have a girlfriend?"_

"Oh… no, I don't think so."

Dr. Blowhole exhaled in relief, then nodded. "Okay. That's all. Thanks, Mike."

"See ya, doc." Mike waved a claw and left the lair, leaving Dr. Blowhole alone. It was absolutely silent, except for the quiet bubbling of a few experiments and whirring of the TVs.

Dr. Blowhole looked at a notepad he had on a table he was standing next to. There were a few calculations and notes written on it. He looked at it for a moment, then made a decision… one that he needed to always remember.

He flipped through the pages, past the tables and notes, past the blank pages, to the very last page. He picked up a pencil in his flipper (an easier feat than you'd imagine) and carefully wrote down a single word, then drew a heart around it.

_Penny_

No… he would never, ever give up on her. He couldn't - he loved her, and always would. Besides, he'd already found the alternate versions of Moist and Captain Hammer, she couldn't be too far, right?

Dr. Blowhole's - and Dr. Horrible's - decision was this: no matter what he had to give up or forget from his previous world - his friends, his name, his species - he would never, ever forget or give up on Penny. He would never stop looking for her.

* * *

Aww! So cute...

Review!


	6. Chapter 6

That next morning, Dr. Blowhole was floating peacefully at the surface of his pool (apparently fish – and dolphins – didn't really sleep, so much as rest,) enjoying the quiet of the morning... well, as quiet as a city like Sacramento could ever be. He judged that the time was about seven-thirty on this fine Saturday morning, so he figured that Mike would be here soon enough, to verify that the coast was clear for them to roam the zoo freely and get into the offices to execute Operation: Flightless Birds. Oh yeah – all night to think up a cool name and that was the best he could come up with.

Suddenly, he felt a painful, sharp pinch on his dorsal fin, and he violently jerked away, exclaiming in surprise. "Gah!" He whipped his head around. "Mike – not so hard next time, OK? Jeez..."

"Sorry, doc." Mike said quickly. "But we got a problem."

Dr. Blowhole could sense something was very wrong – even Mike's voice, usually lazy and slow, was filled with an uncharacteristic sense of urgency. "What's up, something wrong?"

"Yeah. There's zoo employees swarming all over the place – I was barely able to sneak over here without being noticed. There must be some sort of inspection going on today!"

Dr. Blowhole froze and stared back at his friend. No way... not today, of all days...

"But – the plan..." he stammered.

"I know, dude, but I don't think there's any way to get us past the humans, much less into the offices. You're pretty noticeable on that Segway, you know."

Dr. Blowhole remained silent, staring blankly into the clear water and racking his brain. What he couldn't understand was why there was even an inspection going on at all. You'd think that if Paul or Sheila, his "trainers", had known about an inspection coming up, they would have been preparing for it... this just seemed too random. There had to be a bigger reason behind it, and he intended to find out. But as Mike pointed out, he was too noticeable...

Mike... well, duh! That's why he had minions! Okay... minion.

"Alright, Mike." He said seriously, looking back the lobster beside him. "There's probably a more important reason behind this inspection, and I want to know what it is. I want to you go around the zoo – stay unseen, but listen in on every conversation you can. Find out all you can, then come back and report to me. I'll give you two hours, but the sooner the better."

Mike, now acting as Red One, nodded. "Sure thing, doc." He turned and left the dolphin habitat.

And then Dr. Blowhole waited. And waited. And waited... jeez, couldn't the zookeepers have at least, at some point, given him some of those idiotic dolphin toys? It was really a good thing he had the lab to go to. What with the whole rest-not-sleep thing, if it weren't for his lab and secret double life, he could die of boredom here. It was times like that when he really missed his life as a human, especially the golden time before the... the incident at the mayor's hall. There had never been boredom there – there was always a new project to work on, or a nice cup of frozen yogurt to go out and buy. But above all, there'd always been his blog. That was the part he missed most about life as a human... when there had been no one to listen to him, no one to talk to or brag about his awesomeness to, there was always his webcam waiting for him, people emailing him in varying degrees of interest and support... he even missed Johnny Snow, the good old poser-in-a-parka that liked to think himself worthy of the title 'nemesis'! Now _that _was a scary thought.

Anyway, just over an hour and a half passed of absolutely nothing happened, until Mike finally returned.

"What did you find out?" Dr. Blowhole asked.

"It's a zoo transfer." Mike reported. "One of our otters is going to be sent to Pittsburgh tomorrow. Some of the officials had to be here to sign some papers, so they figured it would be more efficient to have an inspection today so the big shots didn't have to come all the way back here again in two weeks. That's when the inspection was originally scheduled for."

Dr. Blowhole nodded. He hardly felt any better now that he had an answer; there was still no way to prevent the arrival of Skipper's new compatriots. The plane the shipment was on was too far into its flight to change course, and it couldn't be stopped since it would probably be flying over the depths of the Atlantic Ocean by the time Dr. Blowhole and Mike could get at the office computers.

Dr. Blowhole could think of nothing they could do about it now... until, a novel idea came to his mind... Skipper's helpers weren't the only ones being transported, were they? The very zoo he was in was doing a transfer this very moment!

"Mike," Dr. Blowhole said with a gleefully evil grin. "Tomorrow the otter's going, you said?"

"Yeah..."

"Excellent! This is the perfect opportunity – we must take it. Mike, meet me here as soon as the big-shots leave and we'll get to the office computers."

"But it'll be too late to mess with the newbie's plane by then, what's the point?" Mike said, confused.

"The point is that we'll be making a little trip of our own soon – tomorrow, in fact."

Mike's eyes grew wide. "You don't mean-"

"Oh, yes. I hope you enjoy fruit, Mike – we're about to get a taste of the Big Apple."

* * *

Chapter six! Woohoo!

...

I'd say more, but I'm really tired. I blame my youth group for duct-taping me to a wall at one in the morning Friday night... long story. Lock-in at the church. :)

Review!


	7. Chapter 7

Hello! Long chapter ahead - brace yourself!

* * *

That evening, once the people had finally vacated the zoo, Mike and Dr. Blowhole immediately left for the offices. Dr. Blowhole was an especially grumpy mood – Paul had shown up and forced him to do the routine for the zoo officials as part of the inspection. Couldn't a dolphin get a day off around here?

However, this was no time to sulk. The plane from Sacramento to Pittsburgh was leaving at noon tomorrow – if there was any changes to be made to be made to it, they had to be made now.

As always, when they reached the offices, Mike held up a loose bit of carped and pulled out a normal bobby-pin, dusted it off, and placed it in Dr. Blowhole's waiting mouth so he could jiggle open the lock.

"You know," Dr. Blowhole said through his clenched teeth as he forced open the lock, "it's funny that they went through that whole inspection today and didn't notice how easy it is to pick this lock."

Mike chuckled as the lock clicked open, and Blowhole pushed it open with his nose. They rushed to the computer – Mike pushed the power button on the hard drive and Blowhole typed in the password to log in. Typing was a lot more difficult nowadays for the doctor, having no fingers or opposable thumbs, but he was finally starting to get used to it.

Blowhole looked through the zoo's files and recently-visited websites, and soon found the order that would send the otter to Pittsburgh. He briefly considered deleting that part, but decided against it, saying to himself, "Eh, might as well bring him along, that can't do any harm…"

"Uh, boss, I think it's a she-otter."

"Whatever!" Blowhole snapped. "Could be a freakin' hermaphrodite for all I care, all that matters is that it's now going to New York."

"Where are we going – Central Park?"

"No, too conspicuous. I want to surprise Skipper, not the other way around. No, we're going to.. let's see, where's closest... ah, Hoboken."

"NO!" Mike randomly shouted in horror. He jumped onto the desk and continued to protest. "Not Hoboken! I've heard people talking about that place – it's nothing for us animals but a abysmal hellhole of death and despair!"

"Alright, jeez!" Dr. Blowhole shouted, exasperated. "We won't go there, don't get your tail in a twist!"

Mike sighed in relief. "Whew. Thanks, man."

Blowhole glared at him for a second, then turned back to the computer. "O-kay then, _second _closest place is... oh, _dammit!"_

"What?"

"Coney Island. They'll take me, but I'll still have to do that stupid routine... also, they don't want lobsters, no openings."

Mike shrugged. "That's okay. I've got some family up by Manhattan, I could stay with them."

Dr. Blowhole nodded, and was just about to start typing again, when he paused and did a classic double-take back at Mike. "Seriously? You do?"

Mike affirmed this – his family just off the coast of Manhattan, he was pretty sure on a side near Coney Island. He also assured Blowhole that he wouldn't have a problem with lobster fishing: since he'd lived with humans – not to mention hanging with Blowhole – he'd gained more than enough intelligence that he knew it wasn't a good idea to walk inside the shiny cages. Apparently, he said, wild lobsters were really quite idiotic… actually, that gave Dr. Blowhole an idea he'd have to try once he got to the city...

...

The next morning, Dr. Blowhole was aroused from his rest by the sound of trucks driving throughout the zoo, and of people arguing. He grinned and looked over the surface of the water, over at a few men arguing by an entrance to his habitat: one was carting a large forklift that carried a shallow pool half-filled with water; two other men were wearing suits and were quite red in the face.

"You know, if you didn't want me to take the dolphin," the delivery boy said plainly, "then you shouldn't have included him in the order you sent."

"_We didn't!"_ one of the suits shouted. "Frankie's one of our best money-makers, why would we send him away?"

"I dunno, but it's what the clipboard says." The delivery boy held up his clipboard and read off, "One otter, one lobster, and one dolphin – express shipping – from Sacramento, Cali, to New York, New York."

"_New York?_ We put down _Pittsburgh!"_

The delivery boy shook his head. "Not according to the clipboard. And trust me, the clipboard never lies."

Blowhole sighed and rolled his eyes. He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it seemed there was no choice... sometimes, a dolphin had to do what a dolphin had to do. He swam a few yards to the left, where he had placed a few wooden boxes of his own by the edge of the pool. Last night, he'd packed a few essentials (after securing them all in waterproof plastic bags to get them past the surface without flooding the boxes.) There were things like: the blueprints for the robotic eye-patch; his own clipboard; and... ah. _These. _He picked up two objects in his mouth – two types of guns. One was a ray-beam he'd recognized as having the same sort of design as the mind-ray he'd built for Professor Normal over three weeks ago- wow, had it really only been three weeks? - And the other was a regular gun.

He swam back to his original spot. He held the mind-ray under his left flipper and the regular gun in his right flipper, aiming high into the air. He pulled the trigger – a shot rang out throughout the zoo, though the bullet flew harmlessly though the air. Just as he'd hoped, the men jumped in surprise and looked around for the cause of the sound. Using this distraction, Blowhole quietly dropped the gun on the pavement and then aimed the mind-ray at the first suit – ZAP – and then the second – ZAP! The suits twitched, then stood totally straight, their eyes a bit dead of expression.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." The first man said robotically. "We must have been mistaken."

"Go ahead." The second suit said. Even better, he took out a set of keys and unlocked the entrance to the dolphin exhibit. "Have a nice day."

The delivery man blinked, not quite convinced, but then shrugged. "All righty then, whatever gets the job done, I guess."

Blowhole grinned, and quickly jumped back to his box of stuff, replaced the guns and re-sealed the box with a couple of latches, and was innocently swimming in a little circle before the delivery boy noticed anything different. The boy first took Blowhole's box and set it on the open seat inside the forklift, then walked up to the pool. He stood there for a minute, scratching his head. "Oh boy... how am I supposed to get you in this thing?"

Blowhole, eager to get out of this place, decided to break the rules a bit and, almost as if he was answering the guy's question, leapt right out of his now ex-home and into the pool on the forklift. It hurt a little, and he got the wind knocked out of him, but totally worth it to see the guy's face. His jaw dropped and he simply stood, dumbfounded, for a while then shook his head to snap himself out of it.

"Whoa..." he said. "That was weird... okay, um..." he started to approach the pool (and the forklift) slowly, not wanting to frighten the oddly obedient dolphin before him. "Stay!" he commanded, holding up his hand in the universal 'stop!' sign. Blowhole rolled his eyes... come on, he was a dolphin, not a _dog..._ still, he didn't move a muscle. Reassured, the delivery boy climbed back into the forklift, revved it up, and started back for the truck.

Blowhole saw the two men in suits, just standing there by the entrance to the habitat area, with idiotic smiles plastered across their faces… Blowhole got a wicked idea and couldn't resist. He kicked his tail in the water, causing a huge SPLASH right on top of the suited men. The water snapped them out of their stupor and they staggered back out of shock, cursing loudly and shaking water out of their faces.

Even though he knew full well that the people wouldn't understand him, Blowhole shouted out, _"Ha! _That's what you get for allowing your employees to threaten aquatic animals with _Tasers! _Seriously, what is _wrong _with you people? Oh, you just wait until I take over the world – PETA's going to be all over you like paparazzi on Lady GaGa!"

Blowhole heard the delivery boy snorting back a laugh at the overly saturated suits, then – obviously seeing the death glare one of the big-shots was giving him – quickly sped up the forklift out of the surrounding area and close to the zoo's entrance. There were two trucks there; one of them was being loaded with a medium-sized box with a few air holes and a big sticker with a picture of an otter on it; the other already contained a see-through plastic tank half-filled with water, with a familiar lobster inside. Another delivery man was standing next to this truck, and the forklift parked next to him. Together, the two delivery men slid Blowhole and the pool into a huge metal cage inside the truck with Mike inside.

"Hey, boss." Mike said, his voice distortedly leaking out through a few air holes in his box. "They finally got you here, did they?"

"Yeah. The zoo's bosses were being difficult." He looked outside. "Hey – where's my… oh, there it is." He said as he noticed one of the men loading in his box of stuff. The man checked over all the cargo once more, nodded, and shouted out, "Jerry, it's all here. We're off to the airport!" He then pulled down the door, slamming it shut. The inside of the truck was immediately thrust into complete darkness.

Just as soon as the truck started, Blowhole sucked in a breath as he suddenly felt his right eye go into a violent spasm. It apparently didn't like having to dilate so quickly... then, just as soon as it had come, it stopped and his eye slackened again. Blowhole released his breath in a sigh.

"You alright, doc?"

"Yeah – I think my eye went out again. Good thing it's already pitch dark in here."

"Don't you think you should get that looked at some point? Maybe when we get to New York-"

"I'll be fine." Blowhole said in an annoyed, clipped tone.

"Okay, whatever you say." Mike paused. "So… New York! Man, it's been years since I saw my folks… I wonder how Jenny's doing. Oh, she's my sister. She was always so sweet, I bet she found a mate already... how 'bout you, doc? You hyped for NYC?"

"Yeah, I am." He said absentmindedly, not really paying attention. All he could think of was the fact that he was probably going to be facing Skipper soon... how if the penguin wasn't disposed of soon, he would have a better chance with Penny's alternate, whoever she was... Blowhole couldn't help but remember the good old Captain, and how much they'd hated each other… more than anything, though, he remembered that day at the homeless shelter dedication – he'd been _so close _to offing Hammer...! He wouldn't make that mistake again.

Mike heard music. "What're you humming? I've never heard that before."

"Oh, just a little something I came up with a long time ago..."

"_It's a brand new day_

_And the sun is high_

_All the birds are singing_

_That you're gonna die_

_How I hesitated_

_Now I wonder why_

_It's a brand new day..."_

* * *

God, I love that song. :)

Review!


	8. um yeah

Yeah... I told myself to do this months ago already, but I really felt horrible about it and just kept putting it off until now. I've got a few spare minutes with nothing to do and thought I'd get this over with.

Truly, one of my pet peeves is when an author quits right in the middle of a story, never finishing it. However… yeah. I'm doing that.

The truth is, I'm officially quitting PoM altogether now. I have done so without words for quite some time now, but now I'm pretty much telling you. I have no plans to really finish this story, or any others I've kind of had in my head for a while. I'm already a week into my senior year of high school, and I've already received an acceptance letter from my favorite college. I think it's time to move on. I'm not speaking for anyone else who writes or reads these stories, it's your choice... wait, why am I getting into that, that's so random... anyway.

That was weird.

There is some good news, though - two pieces of good news, actually. The first is that the years of writing have not been lost on me - I know I am actually a decent writer, and how to make other people's writing better, thanks to the little blue "Review" button at the bottom. You'll all be happy to know that, this NEXT fall, I'm planning on getting a major in English and later on becoming a book editor. That means I'll read over people's work, make corrections, and decide if it deserves to be published or not. Sounds cool, right?

The next bit of news is something (I hope) you'll be happy to see - I do have the rest of this story planned out as to what was going to happen - I just don't have the time or motivation to write it all out. For your pleasure, I'll tell you all in paragraph, 3rd person form what that all entails...

Let's see... when we left off, Blowhole/Horrible and Mike were headed out to New York City...

Blowhole lives in a dolphin exhibit near Coney Island, where by day he has to do his little routine and by night he fixes up a new lab with Mike (blocking off a human's storage area with dynamite and then stealing parts from warehouses.) However, before he has the guts or the tech necessary to take on Skipper and the rest of his team, good old Skipper follows the trail from the stolen science equipment to Coney and surprises him. Unready for combat, Blowhole is defeated and Skipper warns him to get out of New York. Blowhole wakes up from his blackout two days later to discover that his robotic eye mechanism is now attached to his head - Mike had done it (following instructions Blowhole had made in case of emergencies like this one) seeing that his bad eye was bloodied and since he was already out of conciousness…

Blowhole moves out of New York (not out of fear, mind you - the team trashed the place and it was no longer usable) and decides he needs some allies. He and Mike do a little digging and find an old enemy of Skipper's to team up with - Hans the Puffin, whom Blowhole immediately recognizes as the reincarnation of Bad Horse from his old dimension. This goes about as well as you'd think. Which is not well.

Years pass, and more and more attempts to thwart Skipper are... well, thwarted. Soon, he doesn't even care about taking over the world, he just wants to get that damn penguin. In fact, the whole thing has made him more than a little cuckoo over time.

It's almost six months after the special episode that introduced Blowhole to us fans. Finally, Blowhole has not only re-set up his system that allows him to see into the penguins' home and interact with them, only this time he's fixed it so that he can see in - but they can't see out. The only catch is that their television has to be on - no problem, though: he memorizes the Lunacorns schedule.

One day, though, he sees something besides the penguins - or rather, someone. At first, he recognizes her as the otter that had come with them on the trip to New York, but then he gets a jolt when he sees her eyes - big, brown, full of kindness and innocence... it's Penny.

(And, yes, I put her eyes as brown - they seem to switch throughout the series from green to brown, so I'm using that. Then again, I haven't seen a single episode in months, so forgive me if I'm making any mistakes with the continuity they've set up since then.)

In that moment, he forgets about Skipper, about the team, about everything he's went through since he became Dr. Blowhole; heck, he forgets that he even is Blowhole and that he's looking at an otter and not a person - all he can see is the love of his life dying in his arms because of something he created. He sends his lobsters back to the zoo - however, he misspeaks his commands and they think she's supposed to be kidnapped like a prisoner. They do so.

Blowhole is horrified at what they've done and rushes to see her once the lobsters come back. All the while, Mike tries to warn him that this girl has never seen or met him before - in fact, Mike still doesn't realize that Blowhole actually came from another dimension. He thinks Blowhole's imagining someone from the amnesiac state he was in before that first hit.

Blowhole ignores him and goes to where the otter is being kept and orders them to free her. The girl is at first terrified, but a bit comforted by the kindness her captor treats her with and thinks there must have been a mistake. Blowhole denies this and calls her "Penny." The girl is more confused at this, saying her name is Marlene (thank you, Captain Obvious) and begs him to let her go home. Blowhole, still half-crazed himself, says she will be more happy with him and that he has a special place all set up for the two of them to go. The truth is, in the past few months he pretty much gave up on killing Skipper and decided to focus more on finding Penny and making sure they would be together - the entire TV thing was simply a whim to make sure the penguins weren't planning on killing him or making any big plans. Instead, Blowhole re-built his trans-dimensional portal with hopes it would bring him and Penny back home. Marlene understandably freaks out when he tells her this - and that the portal would separate her and Skipper for all time, leaving her utterly alone with this nut job villain she's never met before.

Just when Blowhole tries to force her into the portal, Skipper and the team come crashing through to save her. Skipper means business, using none of his usual snarky sarcasm or cool tricks - Blowhole has obviously crossed a line with him. However, Blowhole means business too and a huge battle ensues, the boys making sure Marlene gets out safe, which distresses Blowhole to no end. He screams for them to leave her here, that he loves her and that she will be happier with him. Skipper's had enough. Using some typically-underhanded trick, he flings Blowhole, alone, through the portal and Kowalski has it close behind him.

Blowhole doesn't even feel the pain this time as he transforms across time and space, too distraught at his second time of losing Penny. However, as he sees his hands - once again, fingers and all - and sees that they are quite different than he remembers them, mainly in that there is no scar he once got from Captain Hammer. He feels something he hasn't felt in years - clothing upon his skin... except he sees that all he's wearing now is a pair of boxer shorts. His hair is the same, the rest of his body is the same... so what the heck?

A blinding flash of light forces his eyes shut as he enters his new world. He's in a bed - a very, very comfortable bed at that. He gazes around the room, mystified for just a second - whoever he was now, he was very well off, with a fancy-chancy man-cave apartment, with a giant TV at the head of his bed and, from what he can see, and entire room full of suits and nothing but suits. He smiles a bit... until he feels something - someone else in the bed. He freezes, and a beautiful woman pokes her head out and lays her head on his chest, obviously naked and saying something about how "good he was last night." He stays silent for almost a full minute, flabbergasted at his situation, then decides to roll with it, putting his arms around the woman and commenting to himself that maybe things are starting to look up.

And for those of you that didn't catch that last bit, he just transformed into one of Neil Patrick Harris's other roles, the one that most people recognize him by - Barney Stinson of the hit TV series "How I Met Your Mother." Seriously, go watch that show - NPH can play a straight man _better_ than any straight man!

So, anyway - thanks for all the support you guys have given me (honestly, I don't know how I ever would have gotten through middle school - most of high school without this as an outlet) and I dearly hope I've been able to give some of that back to you. I wish you all luck in all you do!

~Jill

P.S. While you're watching "How I Met Your Mother", also go look up stories by GrandOldPenguin. He is a freaking _godsend - _thanks for everything, man!


End file.
